(NewsNation) — Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson nearly a year ago, was in court Monday as his lawyers sought to have key evidence thrown out.
Mangione’s team is looking to block the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from showing or telling jurors about some items on his person when he was arrested.
That includes a 9 mm handgun and a notebook in which Mangione allegedly wrote about wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive. The trial will continue at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The judge called five witnesses Monday, and as many as 40 witnesses are expected to be called. It comes as the defense seeks to have the items excluded from evidence, as police did not have a warrant to search his backpack when they arrested him at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s nearly a week after the shooting.
The defense is also working to get some of Mangione’s police statements — including one in which he allegedly provided a fake name to arresting officers — thrown out, as his lawyers say they were made before officers told Mangione he had a right to remain silent.
The suppression hearing was delayed nearly two hours by a full courtroom tech collapse. Mangione, appearing in a suit for the first time, sat through a day of evidence that included NYPD social-media posts, the full shooting video, McDonald’s surveillance footage, and 911 records from Pennsylvania, while two corrections officers testified about unlogged and undocumented conversations they say Mangione initiated during constant watch, claims the defense aggressively challenged as inconsistent, incomplete and lacking any formal record.
Though his team wants to bar the evidence in both his state and federal cases, Monday’s hearing pertained only to the state case. The next federal hearing is Jan. 9, and could hinge on the state hearing’s outcome.
Arresting officers may take the stand throughout this pretrial hearing while the judge determines whether or not that evidence will, in fact, be admissible.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.